Speculation continues to swirl over which team (if any) could pry Juan Soto away from the Nationals before the trade deadline, or even which clubs are the top contenders as we approach August 2. According to Jon Heyman and Joel Sherman of The New York Post, the Nats may be “focusing on one or two teams at the moment,” with the Cardinals seen by some rivals as a likely contender to be one of those clubs due to St. Louis’ amount of MLB-ready talent. As far as the NL West goes, however, a rival executive tells The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal that “I think San Diego is as likely as the other 28 teams combined. They have the players and they have [A.J.] Preller.”
Certainly, the Padres’ president of baseball operations is always open to bold moves, and that confidence extends to the team’s prospects in the sense that the Padres “are confident they can keep replenishing their farm system.” While San Diego has already dealt quality blue-chippers in other deals over the years, more intriguing new names keep emerging. For instance, Rosenthal writes that teams have shown interest in shortstop Jackson Merrill and outfielder James Wood, the Padres’ two top picks from the 2021 draft. Merrill and Wood were both high school selections who are still a few years away from the bigs, so in regards to Soto, the Padres could hang onto the young duo as future building blocks while dealing other prospects who better fit the Nationals’ demands.
More from the NL West…
- The Giants’ defense was an underrated reason behind the club’s success in 2021, but this year, San Francisco has fallen near the bottom of several major defensive statistics. As a result, Rosenthal reports that the Giants are considering adding a strong defender, ideally for an infielder or DH candidate (Tommy La Stella is cited as an example by Rosenthal). Getting one good glove into the mix might raise all tides, allowing the Giants to better align their fielders and help fill the holes created by multiple injuries around the roster.
- Andrew Heaney is expected to be activated off the 15-day injured list to start the Dodgers’ game against the Nationals on Wednesday, manager Dave Roberts told Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register and other reporters. After two starts to open the season, Heaney has made only one other appearance (on June 19), sandwiched between two lengthy IL stints due to shoulder problems. The left-hander tossed five innings in his last minor league rehab start, and it’s safe to assume L.A. will keep Heaney’s workload relatively limited as he ramps back up. In other Dodgers injury news, Chris Taylor (foot fracture) took part in batting practice yesterday and might be ticketed for a rehab assignment later this week.
STL, SD, and SEA have GM’s that love to swing big trades. Those 3 are my favorites to land Soto.
I’m not sure if the Cardinals should go and trade for Soto. I know that we would have a higher probability to a win a World Serie with him, but in 2.5 years from now he will be a free agent. The Cards will have to give lot to acquire Soto from the Nationals. Soto will be looking for a mega contract and the Cardinals will not be able to re-sign him. I believe Othani would be a good fit for the Cards, but the Angels need to decide to trade him. To start off, we can include in the deal Matthew Liberatore.
I’ve written that the Cardinals have turned into the NL’s answer to the Yankees. And that includes Cardinals fans being like Yankee fans.
Yankees rank #1 in MLB for Runs Scored. Cardinals rank #6.
Yet both teams and their fans are looking at trading off young, controlled, cheap players in their farm system for Juan Soto. Now you’re suggesting they trade for Othani. If he were made available the Angels might well ask for more than the Nationals are asking for Soto.
MLB is a young mans game. Veterans drag at this time of year, and when they get injuries it takes longer for them to heal. The Yankees haven’t played well their last 20 games or so, and the Cardinals can’t get past the Brewers. It seems to me that a few targeted areas need to be improved, ones that would allow both teams to keep most of their top prospects.
Have to agree aside from the age thing. The Cardinals lack quality depth and need more of a change of scenery type for the outfield who could get hot in the final months. Benintendi and Solano would solve more problems and allow them to keep their top tier prospects.
In other words, Samuel says NO! …you can’t have him, nor do you deserve him, now clean up your act !!!
“MLB is a young mans game. Veterans drag at this time of year, and when they get injuries it takes longer for them to heal.”
The three Braves with the highest OPS in the 2021 World Series:
Jorge Soler, now 30 years old and in his ninth season.
Freddie Freeman, now 32 years old and in his 13th season.
Travis d’Arnaud, now 33 years old and in his 10th season.
The three Braves who scored the most runs in the Series:
Eddie Rosario, now 30 years old and in his 8th season.
Jorge Soler
Travis d’Arnaud (tied with Ozzie Albies, now 25 and in his 6th season).
The three Braves who drove in the most runs in the Series:
Jorge Soler
Adam Duval, now 33 years old and in his 9th season.
Freddie Freeman
So, of those top performers in the Series, only one was young in baseball years, and he was in his fifth major league season at the time.
From what I’ve heard it’s gonna take Gorman, Walker, Winn, Libratore, and the STL arch to get Soto. Francys01 is right, but imma keep dreaming Mozeliak pulls this off and trades for Brad Keller of the Kansas City Royals as well.
If you traded your giant metal “n” would you really miss it? Hasn’t been the same when they got rid of the McDonald’s boat down there.
The Angels not trading Ohtani reeks of a business over baseball decision. 4-5 top prospects + using the would-be extension money on 2-3 premium players would make them really competitive in 2024 if not 2023.
So baseball is not a business?
Ohtani is estimated to be worth at least $10M a year to the Angels in marketing and merchandising.
I think you missed his point. He’s saying that keeping ohtani is based on the amount of money they can make off him vs. what is best for the w-l record of the team long term
The Angels don’t care about winning. If they did they never would have signed Rendon they would have gone all in on Cole. If Ohtani had any sense he’d get as far away from that team as soon as he possibly can or else he’ll fall into the same rut as Trout. By that I mean looking for any chance at sitting on the bench with some trumped up injury avoiding having to face the fact that your team sucks. What I find hilarious is all the fans who actually still think Mike Trout is the best player in baseball when he’s not even in the top ten at this point. Run Shohei run!!
Troll Mystery Team troll!!
I didn’t miss the point. It seems the point that was missed was mine about baseball being a business. Ohtani’s marketability represents real cash money to the Angels, and this makes him that much less attractive for them to trade. By now it should be obvious the Moreno strategy has very little to do fielding a winning team. Unfortunately, the structure of MLB makes losing profitable and many owners take full advantage.
Fran, Ohtani is more valuable than Soto. It would be the same prospect cost and Ohtani is a free agent 1 year earlier than Soto.
AND the Angels would likely force you to take Rendon with him.
Rendon has a full no trade clause in his contract.
Those mean nothing. $$$$$
I agree with this, that I don’t think the Cards should trade for him. If he was an elite defensive CF I’d say it’s a no brainer, but it looks like he hasn’t played a single game in CF. To start off I’ve seen they’d be looking for Walker, Winn, Carlson, Liberatore and possibly more. With Bader having a foot injury that could derail his career. You’re literally on you’re feet to do everything and his whole game is based on speed and defensive explosiveness. He’s not going to have any value moving to 1st or DH, so we need Carlson to man CF. I’d prefer to send O’Neill if we had to choose one of the 2. O’Neill works for me in the 5 hole, and he has gold glove defense, but I guess it would be nice to slide Arenado to 5 if they add Soto. And either play Donovan/Yepez in LF or call up Burleson.
Then I think it would be a mistake to get rid of Walker. You’re going to need someone to bat behind Soto when Arenado and Goldy are gone, and depending on the timing he could move into whatever corner OF spot Soto isn’t in or be the new era at either 1b or 3b when the time comes.
And Liberatore, I know his name is getting thrown around because he is the #2 prospect, and you might also notice every Cardinal fan is happy to throw home right in, and I’m one of them. Maybe he could end up turning Alcantara on us, but I haven’t been impressed with much I’ve seen from him this year and honestly would rather see Thompson making his starts. Maybe nats scouts have noticed the same and will ask for more.
Just don’t want to give up on the future.A few years from now I don’t know if Herrera or Knizer is going to be the answer catching, but I wouldn’t mind seeing Walker and Gorman on the IF corners. Edman, Winn(guess he pitches too so Donovan can fill in) up the middle then hopefully Bader, O’Neill, Carlson, in the OF, and looks like Burleson can step in if Bader can’t get healthy. Add in Yepez and it looks like Paul DeJong might be starting to find his swing again, so if they’re healthy plenty of DH options any given night.
Maybe the Cards do have enough pieces to get Soto, but I’m assuming they’re asking for at least 1 of Walker, Gorman, Carlson and I think that price is too much. Maybe Liberatore, Winn, O’Neill or Burleson, I’ve seen Baker and Gomez mentioned, maybe pick one out of Oviedo, Fernandez, Pallante, Woodford.
Bader has a foot injury that could derail his career? No, he has plantar fasciitis.
I stopped reading after you spouted that crap.
So, what is plantar fascitis, if ut isnt a foot injury??
!NolanGorman16!
Bader has a foot injury that could derail his career? No, he has plantar fasciitis.
================================
I stopped reading after you spouted that crap.
I have had and continue to deal with plantar fasciitis on a semi regular basis and is is horrible. Barely being able to walk at times, I would think it could severely hamper Bader’s career if he can’t get it under control. If I remember correctly, it pretty much ended Marty Córdova’s career.
It’s a shame you don’t have a doctor to fix it for you. How many MLB players have had their careers cut short due to plantar fasciitis? I’ll wait why you try to come up with just one.
Plantar fasciitis afflicted Pujols for most of his time in Anaheim. We all know how that went.
EXACTLY!!!
They want Gorman which is a tough pill to swallow if we are supposed to take Corbin as well. But it makes sense because the Cardinals need an innings eater quickly.
Cardinals have too many holes to fill and this trade would be toxic to long term success. Soto’s personality is not one I want in St. Louis.
If the pads don’t land him, I’d love to see Seattle get him
The Cardinals always stay put at the trading deadline.
The Soto to St. Louis trade will never happen!
Remember the last shortstop the Nats acquired from the Padres…
Rizzo will miss out on a golden opportunity if he passes on the Pads…
Yeah, they put him in center.
Turner?
Jackson Merrill is nothing like Trea Turner. CJ Abrams on the other hand…
You are right. Merrill is just 19 and already a better hitter in terms of average and power than Turner was when he hit low A Eugene at age 21. Turner had and still has much, much more speed and has turned out to be one of the top SS in baseball.
Be interesting to see what Merrill does against high-A and AA pitching later this season or early next. He could be something special as a hitter.
Still rather that the Padres didn’t make that trade for Myers. Stupid then and stupid now.
So you’ve finally come around to Myers being terrible?
I wouldn’t trade Wood for Soto straight up.
Campusano and Gore as the main headliners and I’d do a quantity over quality approach for the Nationals
Rosario Gasser Haynes Howell and whatever else it took.
I’m sure other teams will beat that, 99% chance, but any team acquiring Soto is getting him for 2.5 years. Hes not signing an extension and each off season and deadline that passes the Nationals get less and less cause less team control.
So teams have to factor in he’s not sticking around long term unless you pay him more than 440 million. Idk what the magic number is but doubt many teams are willing to meet it while giving up premium prospects and players.
Campusano is not a headliner for Juan Soto. The Nats wanted Keibert over him last year. Padres have the pieces if Preller goes crazy, but it’s costing them Hassell and Merrill at bare minimum. This is Juan Soto, not Ian Happ.
1.5 Ian Happ doesn’t get you Campusano+.
And like I said. Other teams can certainly beat the offer.
I wouldn’t bet the farm on 2.5 of Soto when he’s not guaranteed to stay around unless you pay him an ungodly amount that cripples your teams ability to field a competitive roster.
Someone will.
Hassell and Merrill for Soto? In a second.
The Nationals just traded for Ruiz last year. I don’t think they are looking for a trade headlined by a catching prospect.
Then you have ZERO idea how to evaluate talent. No offense, I’m sure you are a nice guy, but not a scout.
You’re correct I’m a nice guy and not a scout. I also wasn’t being serious? Sorry I messed with you.
But of all the Padre prospects I’d rather they not part with Wood. If you’ve seen him play you’d understand why.
I figured you were just joking around, that’s why I threw in the playful joke also. Sorry if the attempted humor didn’t come through.
As far as seeing him play, I don’t really watch baseball below the ML level aside from maybe the occasional Futures game. That’s why I am never really as enamored with prospects as most on here. To me, they are nothing more than names on a list until they get to the big leagues.
6ft 7 basestealer with bat control plate patience excellent eye hits moonshots and rooftops of Elsinore. Myers just went through rehab as his teammate and said “there are no words” when asked about him.
So then why trade him? If he is so good?
Wood is a 19 year old Judge. At least that is who scouts I sit across the aisle at the Storm games are comparing him to. Some think he can stick in CF and he has serious power.
Yeah and a lot can happen between now and three years from now when his stats actually count for something other than guessing what he might be in the future.
The point is that Wood MIGHT be great, but Soto IS great (albeit a bit overrated IMO). That is why you often see multiple prospects in exchange for a ML star. There is no such thing as a sure thing prospect.
Sure, Jan.
That doesn’t mean he will become Judge. He is still 19 years old. If that is what it takes to get a talent like Soto in their lineup, they should trade him. If its going to take 2 top 100 prospects and two other players in or close to MLB and the Nationals say they want Abrams and Wood plus a couple other MLB ready prospects that are not top 100 prospects, do you really think Preller would say no?
And why not? Wood’s ceiling is what Juan Soto is now. Wood has more control sure but the Padres are going to be facing another rebuild by the time he makes his way to the majors so it’s not gonna matter.
Soto is overrated.
I have to agree. If he weren’t a butcher in the field, I wouldn’t agree because he’s a phenomenal hitter. But if the metrics mean anything, he’s a liability with the glove. I can’t see emptying the farm for a glorified DH.
On the other hand, where would the Sox have been without Papi?
People can reasonably disagree, I guess.
I saw Big Papi bite into a coconut with the shell still on.
How wonderful for you.
Although I don’t think they’ll do it don’t count out the dodgers. With that farm system they can get Soto and still be alright in the minors
I mean if you could convince the Nationals to take money owed to Bauer to essentially buy prospects im sure the dodgers would do it in a heartbeat.
Dodgers aren’t on the hook for Bauer, he’s suspended. If my knowledge is correct, if they take on corbin and release him that doesn’t count against the luxury tax. Don’t quote me on that though I’m not an expert
He can appeal / ask for reinstatement possibly prior to the new league year beginng….. in which case they would be on the hook for his salary next year. He can probably ask for reinstatement at any point tbh….. Not entirely sure of the timelines or if there’s dates or deadlines for such things. But he is allowed to ask to be reinstated and make a case for such.
After sitting a full season, mlb could reinstate him if he’s done things to address his off the field issues. Considering he missed time in 2021 and 2022 he could have a case to be reinstated.
It’s not like the Dodgers are completely done with the Bauer saga. Not until his would be contract is completely off the books.
Unless another team picks up Corbin on waivers then his salary would still count against the luxury tax.
I don’t see the Dodgers in on Soto. It’s tempting but not necessarily best for the team. He’s going to command too much $ and length of contract in 2.5 years, which will bring down overall team talent level and contract uncertainty which they already have one in Betts longer-term. And they’d have to give up too many prospects which will tank the farm system. Only way they give up less is to take the Corbin deal, but then they’ll have to commit even more money for this Soto deal. As good as Soto is I’d pass.
Rosenthal trying to torpedo the Padres like he did last year. Yawn.
Seems pretty obvious at this point. All journalist reports about the padres regarding Soto should be taken with a grain of salt. Unless Passan says we got him I am assuming this is just misinformation so the dodgers spend more like last time.
@Manny, thoughts on how this ultimately plays out?
@Neon Cop I think he doesn’t get traded. Seems like the Cardinals will try to get the full value or even a premium on top. That is too high for most teams to stomach.
The Padres have already been burned by Prellers trading over the years. If he trades for Soto, there is no recovering for the franchise if they can’t keep Soto long term. They better pray Manny opts out and gives them room to give Soto what he wants
Love how delusional you are.
Do I really need to list the players Preller has traded. Trea Turner, France and Clase were all stars this year alone and that’s barley scratching the surface. Or were you referring to me saying a team won’t be able to have 3 players making more than a billion in salary
This you saying Kyrie LeBron and Davis are the best starting 5 in the NBA?
Seems you’re full of delusions.
The earth being flat has a greater chance of happening than the Lakers winning a championship with Irving added next year as that roster currently stands.
hoopsrumors.com/2022/07/western-notes-ham-monk-lak…
“This you saying Kyrie LeBron and Davis are the best starting 5 in the NBA?”
Did somebody say that three players are the best five?
Bednar was also a HOF. Suwinski lead NL rookies in HR for a while.
Pretty strange behavior to stalk my comments on another sport. Yes, that would be the best starting lineup. Three future HOFers, two in their prime and LeBron. But that’s irrelevant to baseball. Further shows you know I’m right when you can’t argue what I said wrong in a BASEBALL thread.
Heaney will pitch one game and back on the IL
No assumptions need to made about Heaney’s projected workload. Dave Roberts has already said he can’t envision him exceeding 75 pitches in a start.
This is A.J.’s chance to make his biggest – and best – move to date. Rotation is stacked; just gotta put that lineup over the top. Imagine getting Juan Soto and Fernando Tatis Jr. when you’re in a WC hunt? Gonna go out on the limb and say: the Padres will never be in a better position to win it all.
I agree. No one gets more fun out of making fun of all Preller’s moves than I do, but this one could work out. They have 5 SPs doing well, and 3 doing very well. A great closer. And Tatis on the horizon.
Their payroll drops in ’23 and even more in ’24. So he has a really good 2-year window, but still won’t be buried after that window closes. Abrams, Hassell & Wood, and make the Nats take Hosmer.
Going to take more then that. Add gore to that list and forget hosmer unless you are paying nearly all of his contract.
I’d be surprised if they got more. Being generous, he is a 7-WAR player for 2.4 seasons, or ~ 17 WAR. Abrams alone might be a 17 WAR player.
There will be no Hosmer going to the Nats in a Soto trade. The Nats could get a comparable package to the one you mentioned for Soto from someone else without taking one of the other team’s bad contracts. According to BTV the package you suggested favors the Padres by $95m.
I’ve seen a lot of bad padres teams so thank you Siedler for allowing us the opportunity to even be in conversations and to be competitive. Just don’t trade James Wood preller
Who could be the strong defender Zaidi is considering adding? Probably another dumpster dive.
If he’s looking for an outfielder and doesn’t want him to cost too much, maybe Michael A. Taylor from the Royals?
“As a result, Rosenthal reports that the Giants are considering adding a strong defender, ideally for an infielder or DH candidate (Tommy La Stella is cited as an example by Rosenthal).”
I’m not sure I understand this sentence. Do you mean the Giants are considering trading an infielder or a DH for a defender at a different position (outfield), or for another infielder with a better glove than La Stella’s?
He’s saying the Giants want to trade Tommy La Stella or someone similar to him (a bad infielder) for someone with a glove (who could play anywhere). Good luck to them conning somebody into that, it’s not like La Stella has a bat worth giving up a glove for. I suppose they can add prospects, but La Stella probably moves the needle backwards.
The thing with any deal like that is there’s really only 2 ways you can do it:
1) prospects going with La Stella.
2) a bad contract coming back to SF.
La Stella’s contract was backloaded so he’s making $11.5M next year. It’s pretty clearly underwater so it’s going to be hard to unload him
I was befuddled by that part of the article, too. I think it simply meant to say that they are looking to part ways with LaStella and to upgrade the defense in the middle infield.
LaStella has sucked badly as a Giant. I agree that he’s not tradeable at this time.
Becoming more and more obvious Zaidi and Kapler have lost the players. Even Belt is now questioning being pinch hit for, Rodon questioning lack of energy, Pederson saying Giants don’t have enough to get Soto, players saying Kapler hasn’t had any team meetings (just one-in-one meetings in his office), players not having any player only meetings, and Kapler continuing to talk about lack of energy and bad defense.
Zaidi doing nothing to bring in top talent, only saying we are considering our options for superstar talent, money is not the issue, and continues to go dumpster diving.
Zaidi and Kapler need to be fired especially if the Giants fall below .500 by the end of the trade deadline or Zaidi doesn’t do whatever it takes to get top level players (including Soto).
Seems like kapler caught lightning in a bottle last year. He was not good in Philly, one good year in SF. And of course he loves all the personal attn…I won’t cry when he is gone.
Even if they make additions I don’t see this team in the playoffs. If anything they need to be in sell mode and looking forward to shedding Belt and Longoria this winter.
Good grief, Zaidi is not getting fired for not making the playoffs this year. The Giants are still in the middle of their rebuild. Where are your expectations at?
Giants haven’t had any real “fire in them” since MadBum and Pence.
They didn’t have any fire last year when they had the best record in baseball?
Hope Heaney can stay healthy. He’s looked dominant when he is.
People draw up these trade proposals as of they’re playing OOTP 23. These mega deals almost never pan out the way they’re drawn up in speculative conversation.
I have a difficult time understanding the luxury tax. If the Padres took on the Corbin contract, could they somehow dance around the tax if the Nats took Myers and/or Lamet?
As in Soto & Corbin for a generational buttload of young players/prospects + Myers/Lamet. Would there be any logic to that?
Soto and Corbin would put the padres over the tax even if the Nats took on myers and lamet. Soto alone has a higher tax hit to the padres this year then myers does. Myers tax hit this year is 14m while sotos is 17m. Gets even worse when you add Corbin vs lamet.
Tax number is the average annual value of the players contract. If a player is traded the team acquiring the player would have a tax of the money they took on. Corbins tax number is around 27-29m if the padres take his contract on.
I dont see the padres trading for Soto if it includes Corbin. Specially with needing to include major prospects. They would be better off going after different players instead.
While soto is great and worth a lot, this deal will still be tough for any team to make. You could literally trade those same prospects for 4-5 good players. You could probably get bell, Contreras and castillo for the cost of 1 Soto.
Soto is controlled for longer extending your window longer but the money he will get even through his arb years is very high.
It will be interesting to see what teams decide to do.
Thanks for explaining that. I think the piece I was missing was the AAV, so Corbin’s backloaded contract wouldn’t provide any tax protection in the short term.
Definitely seems like the Nats would be nuts to insist on Corbin with Soto.If the Nats need to move Corbin, I wonder if there’s some other team that would take Corbin + whatever non-Soto player(s) they want for a handful of pocket lint.
As for Soto, I can see a team like the Padres/Mariners/Cardinals swinging a trade, but they will be paying through the nose. Like the Padres trading Abrams, Hassell, Wood, Merrill and maybe one more for Soto. I still think it would be worth it for SD or another team that’s ready to push for a championship this year and especially next.
When a player is traded the luxury tax hit to his new team is based on his remaining salary owed, not his full contract.
At the deadline Myers will be guaranteed $7 million, $6 million for the balance of the 2022 season and a $1 million buyout of his option, and Lamet will be owed $1.5 million. Soto will be owed $5.6 million and Corbin will be owed about $62 million over 2 plus seasons or an AAV of $20.67 million to his new team.
If that team is the Padres, they would need $17 plus million coming from the Nationals to stay under the luxury tax this season. The next two seasons it would be no problem.
The Padres definitely have the prospects to get Soto but I wouldn’t do it if I were them. I’m not seeing how St. Louis is in the discussion as their system isn’t really great. Walker looks good but after that who knows. Libertore you can have and Mason Wynn can’t hit a lick he should have stayed pitching. McGreevy eeehh I guess he’s okay but I can’t remember the last prospect to be successful in St. Louis. It seems that every prospect that comes up never pans out. Carlson, Bader, the list goes on of guys who never take the big step. They all seem to be stationary. Gorman might be the guy but who knows.
Carlson has been more than 10% above league average offensively with great defense in his two years in the majors and Bader was 14% above league average offensively in each of 20 and 21 with the best defense in CF in the league. He’s been hurt this year and hasn’t contributed all that much, but was very good the previous two years. How is either player a case of “not being successful in St. Louis?”
You don’t have to be a superstar to be a successful Major League Baseball player, being above average on both sides of the ball is more than enough to be. Both are very useful players.
Preller, Just don’t trade Wood.
Abrams, Hassell, Merrill, Ruiz, and Weathers would be a more than equitable package for Soto.
Two top 50 prospects. Another great prospect in Merrill. Two more young and MLB ready players.
That might work but you’d have to take on Corbin. If anyone’s getting Soto I see the Mets or Yankees.
Mets or either out or playing dead to see what develops
Rizzo may be just establishing a market this year for next years deadlines or the off season…
But if a deal happens I see SD as the front runner and The Yankmees next in the order
Bro no one listens to you just stick to one account.
If I was the Padres GM I don’t think I would want to include both of my SS prospects. Just one of Abrams and Merrill. Probably Abrams. Add in Rosario instead of Merrill and another prospect if you have to. Is Jose Castillo or Michael Baez still in their system?
You know Castillo and Baez are both still Padres. You also know that Castillo was non-tendered last offseason which means the Nats could have signed him for the league minimum if they wanted and that he is on track for free agency either the same offseason Juan Soto is or the one after, depending on when he gets called up.
Abrams, Hassell, Merrill, Ruiz, and Weathers, might be enough. But it certainly isn’t more than enough. It’s possible another team is willing to beat that.
What I don’t understand is, before the news that Soto was available, SD was a questionable buyer at the deadline due to their desire to not exceed the CBT threshold. Now a lot of people seem to believe they’re willing to blow past that for Soto.
That’s an ownership decision, but I’m skeptical, that SD would be is willing to sell the farm, because it’s thinned out now as it is, and pay the luxury tax. on top of that. I could be wrong, but I don’t see SD getting Soto.
RIzzo has been quiet for 6 days now…
A deal must be immanent
Any reason 3 of yankees prospects were pulled off the lineup yesterday
Padres are the best fit for Soto. Their window of contention is wide open.
They are drafting well and would replace any prospects given in the upcoming drafts.
The need to keep Soto away from the Dodgers.
Preller and the Padres need a deep playoffs run.
It would be expensive with Hassel, Abrams and a few more very good Padres prospects going to the Nats.
The only thing holding up a Padres Soto deal would be the Nats wanting to tie Corbin’s crazy contract to the deal like a dead weight financial anchor.
The Padres could eat that contract, pay the tax or offload another player until their payroll drops next year.
For 2 1/2 years of “win now baseball” and a shot at the World Series, Soto could help the Padres check off those boxes, get them past the Dodgers in the playoffs and give them a shot at a World Series title.
If the Padres want a shot at winning it all now, then they do this deal.
If Padres want to keep all their prospects, be patient etc, then they still could be in the World Series in a few years and those prospects they retain could be their foundational pieces for a 6-7 year window of contention.
Impatient?! Then do the deal.
Patient, then hold onto your young prospects, play them and make the World Series in ’23 or ’24.
Cardinal players and their fans are losers living in a boring city
The Nats have to lower their demands to trade Soto. If they include bad contracts, the lower the prosects. Lets see if team will trade their 2 best prospects. The Nats may wait until the offseason to lower their demands.
If the Giants include Luciano ss power #9 prospect and Harrison SP #27 prospect that would be the best offer. for Soto.
Mike Rizzo: “Great start. Who else?”
Tommy LaStella, hahahaha!
AJ Preller is a liability on the field. The Cardinals have Gorman which has power like Soto and can play 2B and 3B. That’s the crown jewel Washington needs,